Solomon's Private File #28
These stories about Stephen and Solomon take place starting in
1950's. Stephen wrote about his life in letters to a penpal, and then
in a secure blog, in case he lost his memory again, in the master
computer in his school for gifted students, which he started attending
in 2016 in a new incarnation, until his death. Now his son Solomon is
attending the same school, and is writing in his own secure blog for
his future incarnations.
All characters are fictitious, even if some of them might have names
that belong to some actual people, or act like people we know.
Solomon is 14 in this story, in the Spring of 2040.
Solomon's Private File #28 "State Unfair"
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Sharon played it up in the press, that I was volunteering at the
Smithsonian, and had made the new paintings at Dad's exhibit. Everybody
wanted to know what I looked like. All she would say was, "He's a boy.
A nice boy. He looks like a nice boy." People wanted to know what I
thought of that. I said to Mom, "Give them this; 'The director of the
Smithsonian is correct. Hard not to be accurate that way'." She
grinned, and sent it to CNN. They read it with a smile. Then I was
asked if I had been in a love broadcast. Mom told them I had, with my
father, and with my sister. I asked Mom, "Why are people so interested
in me? They don't even know how cute I am." She laughed while she and
Hawk were poking me. Then Chad decided to release my singing with Dad.
I said to him, "You too, you brute?" He laughed and said, "Right. Ides
of March. Good one." I projected an image of the playwright shaking a
spear at him, and he laughed some more. I released another statement.
"I trusted Chad to release those recordings of me and Dad, when it was
a good time for that. I've just discovered, to my horror and
embarrassment, that we had very different ideas about what constituted
a good time for that." Mom LOVED sending that off. So did Chad.
A Congressman was at a state fair. A man was intending to kill him.
As soon as he drew his gun, I ported to beside him in disguise, and
grabbed his arm and held it and the gun pointing skyward. He struggled
but couldn't budge me. I released him to the police. Then I said very
loudly to him, "What did you think you were doing? How can we yell at
our representatives for all their scandals and corruption, if you kill
them off? Do you want even more boring news shows? Who else can we
blame for bad government, if they're all rotting in the ground? We sure
aren't going to blame ourselves for electing them!" There were a lot of
comments, and applause, too, about that. He was dragged away, looking
strangely confused. I looked around, and said, "Oh! Er, hi. Time to
go." I ported away. That event had some TV crews there. They caught it
all. The poor Congressman tried to continue his speech, but was
ignored, which was probably a good thing for him.
At home, Chad and Hawk ported in, and mauled me with affection while
they were laughing all over. Felt like a supercharged vibrator
sandwich. Which I told them. Made it worse. Pete said in the air, "Well
done!" We watched the news on different channels. After some
speculation, the consensus was it was probably me. More, after Don on
CNN said, "I think it was Solomon. He has a strange way of saying very
wise things in a funny way, you don't realize the full impact of, until
later. Ask him if he was being humorous or serious, he'll probably say
yes. Oh, and we still don't know what he looks like. He changes
disguises often." Mom sent my message to him, which was, "Yes." He had
to grin when he announced that.
We had an executive meeting. Pete asked me, "Why did you do that?" I
said, "Which thing?" He said, "How you managed saving the politician."
I said, "I have a danger watch on all members of congress. Assassin was
in a crowd. If I had just used the 4th to stop him, they would have
panicked. I had to be there as a person, to give them a cause for the
effect. What I said after that was to heal the situation." He looked
very thoughtful, and said, "I have to say, you fulfilled your
objectives perfectly, with extra for the news as a good thing. Well
done!" I said, "Thanks. Rarely do half baked." Groans. Ichi said, "REAL
situation manager! And with style." Nigel said, "That's the most
interesting part, in my opinion. He was recognized mostly for his words
alone, and he never said anything like that in public before." I said,
"Not really unusual. Who else could they blame it on? It sure wasn't
any of us they could recognize, so it had to be me, the only one of us
they know about, who they don't know the looks of." He grinned, and
said, "You're assuming they're logical." I growled. They laughed.
The next time I was in the FBI office, they all acted a little
differently toward me. I said to a secretary, "What's wrong? Got
something in my teeth?" She looked embarrassed, and said, "I suppose I
have to tell you. We think you're Solomon, and you saved that
politician." I said, "Even if that were true, why would you treat me
differently after that? Was I a pickle before?" The school kids almost
cracked up. I turned and pointed at them, and said, "Make that a kosher
pickle." Their efforts not to laugh were a little less effective. I
They all went back to normal then. The things I have to do to run an
office! Sheesh!
I went to the Director, and said, "There is another watcher outside
of our school. This time from Iran." He said, "Unfriendly?" I said,
"Not so much. Just a bored watcher who doesn't know why or what." He
said, "What are you going to do about it?" I said, "I haven't decided.
Why do anything?" He said, "Well, there's entertainment." I said, "I
suppose. How about I go talk to him?" He looked very interested, and
said, "Project to here?" I said, "Sure, but with captions. Going to be
in his language." I ported to out of his sight, and casually walked
like I was going to pass him. I stopped, and said in Farsi,
"Greetings." I looked at the building, and said, "Not much to look at,
is it." He looked really confused, not knowing who I was, and if he
should speak to me or not, or run away. I said, "Got any idea what they
do in there?" He said, tentatively, "I don't know. I don't see many
people go in and out." I said, "I hope it isn't anything dangerous.
"Your boss sure must dislike you." He was getting really nervous.
I said, "Did you know there was a man watching this place before? He
started acting strange, and took his pants and shorts down, and er,
pointed very well. He said some confusing things in Arabic, something
about things crawling all over him, while the police were taking him
away for indecent acts." In spite of himself, with horrified interest,
he asked, "Do you know what happened to him?" I said, "I think they
gave him back to his people. Yemen, maybe, by the accent. Might have
told them their secret agents can't be very secret that way." He gulped
again, and said, "Er, how do you know this?" I said, "It's my job.
Translator. I have a lot of opportunities to learn some very
interesting things. My employers don't know that I do other work as
well. I think you might understand something of that." He said very
sincerely, "I do!" I said, "He never gave them a satisfactory answer
about why he was watching the building. I think it could be safe to
assume, after that, the authorities might have some interest in what he
was really doing. And now that you, another follower of Islam, are
doing the same thing, they might be even more interested. Well, if you
real mess then, and said, "Thank you sir, for your information!" I
said, "Think nothing of it. That's what friends are for. I should be
going now. Been here too long. May Allah be with you." He stared after
me as I walked away. When I was out of his sight, I ported back to the
Director's office.
He was laughing. I said, "Close there. Almost made him wet his
pants." More laughter. Then he said, "Going to make him feel the
crawling things?" I said, "No, he'll do that himself." Soon enough, he
began moving his legs, and then scratching at them. Then he ran away.
The director laughed some more. I said, "You can do a lot with the
right words. Great tools, and you never have to repair them." He looked
at me strangely, and said, "No special powers?" I said, "Just in
transport and disguise. No others. Why do more than you need to?
Overplay, is as bad as underplay. Tell me, what's going to happen with
his superiors?" He thought a while, and had to laugh. He said, "You're
working more angles than I thought!" I said, "Everything is
interconnected. Nothing is isolated. Work in that awareness, and you
can accomplish a lot, with very little. The butterfly effect in
operation." He said, "Wow!" I said, "Well, that, too." He almost
strangled. I gave him the information about the man, on a piece of
paper, said goodbye and left.
Back in our office, things were strange. The school kids were looking
at me in awe. The secs were noticing that, and assumed I did something
unusual again. I said to the kids, "Kosher pickle!" They giggled, and
almost everything went back to near normal. Until it wasn't.
A man came into my office for the usual applicant interview. He had
looked in the other offices with interest, before entering mine. He
sat, and looked at my nameplate, and nodded. His strange actions
prompted me to examine him more closely. He said, "You're from
Stephen's school, aren't you?" I smiled, and said, "Most recently, I'm
from the Director's office. Before that, out on the street. Before
that, here. Before that, home. Need more?" He said, "But you didn't
answer my question." I said, "That's true. Tell me why." He looked
confused for a second, and then thoughtful. When he didn't speak, I
said, "You're here for a psychological evaluation. When do you think it
started?" He understood, and said, "I see. All this is part of it?" I
said, "It would have to be. Applicants are constantly being tested and
evaluated through training and beyond. Assume that, and you could do
well for yourself." He smiled, and said, "Thank you sir. Am I to assume
that the ability and willingness to keep operational secrets is also
part of the testing?" I grinned, and said, "And from other agents as
well. Even secrets that might not be true." He had to chuckle. We
proceeded with the interview. At the end, I said, "How serious are you
about wanting to work for the FBI?" He said, "Very! More than I was
before I walked into the building. Smooth operation! And here I've
discovered the FBI is really the best." I said, "Well, we try to be.
But you might be assuming too much."
I said, "I'm going to do something unusual. Don't worry, I'm er,
known for that." He tried not to grin. I said, "I'm writing in your
file, 'highly recommended'. That's not so unusual in itself. What's
unusual is that I'm informing you of it. I want you to know that I'll
be monitoring your career. I expect very good things from you. Don't
disappoint me." We stood. I came from around my desk, and we shook
hands. He said, "Thank you very much sir. I won't disappoint you!" He
walked out with the sealed file.
Ivanna said to me in contact, "Wow! You prevented a disaster, and
made him your man. Well done!" I said, "I like him. High IQ and
ethical. Can't beat that. He should work out well, if they give him
interesting assignments." She said, "Not like that Iranian." I said,
"Right. He was itching for something better." She laughed.
I said to Galya in her next lesson, "With using the 4th to extend our
senses, we can see practically anything in the galaxy, down to
individual atoms. Not just see, but use all our senses. This is VERY
useful when scouting other Adepts who don't know about the 4th." She
said, "Yes, I see that." I said "Or making them feel very odd, by using
a little psionics they can't identify the source of, intentionally."
She grinned. I said, "Not for fun, but making them a little uneasy can
make them more easy to manipulate when we need to." She said, "Don't we
do anything for fun?" I said, looking at a watch I didn't have on,
psionics. You don't like Spaceball?" She said, "Right. That was FUN!" I
said, "If you can invent any more games where we can use our psionics
safely, PLEASE let us know."
I ported a blank memory crystal to my hand. I said, "In an empty
partition, assemble a book you would like me to read. Make it an
interactive hypertext thing with a selectable index, footnotes, and
references. When you're done, you will put it in this crystal." She
tried to calm her excitement, mostly successfully. A minute later, she
said she was ready. I said, "For the first time, you should put it to
your head. Later, you can try it at some distance from you. Remember,
you can extend your psionics with the 4th if you need to. When you do
this, extend your object sense and PK, and KNOW the crystal to the
atomic level. Then push the contents of that partition into it,
impressing on it the order of viewing, and the active connections you
want. Don't be concerned if you don't do it perfectly the first time.
It's erasable. When you're ready, go ahead." She did. I took it and
covered it with my hand. I said, "How do you think it turned out?" She
said "Not well. I think I didn't manage the connections well." I said,
"To my knowledge, nobody has ever tried to make so complicated a
crystal on the first try. The oldsters confirm that. Hmm, your mother
is a little annoyed at being classified with Pete that way." Galya
tried not to laugh. I said, "If you don't like what's in the crystal,
you can change it anytime before it's set. Here, look at it with an
empty partition." She did, and said, "Wow! I didn't know I could do
that!" She saw my grin, and was embarrassed.
She said, "There are some changes I'd like to make. Did it! By the
way, what kind of material is this?" I said, "A synthetic gem martial
Dad invented. Works best for storing memories, and with a little heat,
can be set and made unchangeable." She said, "How is the information
stored?" I said, "Holographically. Atomic orientation and psionic
energy encoded. Digital in the first, and analog in the second. Want
full info on that? Oh boy do THEY want it!" She looked at me in awe,
and said, "Nobody knew before?" I said, "Right. PK is VERY useful.
Here's a crystal on various data encoding methods and access." She read
it and said, "Oh! Wow! I'm SURE they don't know this!" I said, "Yes. We
haven't said what that is. Make them beg?" She laughed really well.
I said, "For practice, create a standard digital memory card." She
did, and it was in her hand. I said, "That book of yours. Format it as
a standard computer document, and write it to the card. Take your time
if you need to." A minute later, she said, "Done!" I said, "Now read it
directly." She said, "Oops. Can I try again?" I nodded and said,
"Secure erase first." After a minute she said, "Done. I had forgotten
to write its location properly in the file system." I said, "It could
be a safe bet that everybody does that the first time. I could have
better this way." I said, "Now that you know the process of making
these, do it all at once. Yes, make the card with the file already in
it, without copying the card you already made." I grinned at her look
of disappointment. Her third try was successful. I said, "Do you know
now that you have demonstrated the ability to read and write files in
computer storage media, which means you can operate a computer entirely
with your mind directly, without any kind of an interface?" She said,
"Wow! Really WOW!" I said, "You are the 4th person in our history who
can do that." She couldn't even say wow to that.
I said, "This is just the beginning. Refining your skills will take
time. Years, maybe, before you can scan an alien computer and er,
dominate it. Practice helps a lot. I see the question. Most of this you
couldn't have done without training and strengthening your PK. My
father was able to do all this because he was great with PK, which he
didn't realize. So good, he didn't have to exercise it. The rest of us
need to, but because of that, we might even be able to do it better,
even with less powerful people. Was I right saying last time that this
lesson would be amazing?" A hug and kiss was her answer. No complaints.
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Grant
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